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hi again guys,i live in land Australia.the winds are unruly, and at times there is no blasted winds thats why my first kite im about to buy is a pro dancer and then after that a widow maker!is flying off the beach truly the best place to find decent consisted winds ?im approx 30 min away from any beach side place and i dont really want to have to travel that far to bring out a kite to fly!would prefer a 5 min travel osrt time period!being inland,what type of flying field should i look for ?no trees,no buildings,flat grounds may be ?being near water is that generally a good indication that there will be good smooth wind ?thanksglen

that 30 minute drive is worth it, even if you have to hitch-hike! I live very close to 26 soccer fields, but transport a bunch of crap over an hour each way to get to the best of what little wind is available in my region.

You need to concentrate on indoor/no-wind in the front yard or travel to get that silky smooth wind only a beach environment can offer.

No buildings, or trees, fences, lawn ornaments, playground equipment, structural walls, even hills, that is all adding to your troubles

Darn i say it?,... try a quad-lined kite, Revs fly when almost nothing else can

I used to drive an hour and a half for good ocean wind. There's nothing better! I wouldn't think twice about driving thirty minutes! I moved to upstate New York not too long ago and I'm still looking for the perfect place. You're right about the best place being free of obstructions. There's a little strip mall about 5 minutes from me thats got a piece that's undeveloped which is about 100' wide by about a quarter mile long without any obstructions length-wise. I'll fly there on occasion but it's not the best when it's coming through the buildings or from across the street.

Ideally, the best place is where there are no buildings or trees for as far as possible. I found some recreation fields that are on a wide river that's about 30-40 minutes from me and I flew there once. Since there IS a convenience factor, I'm starting to think that any place where there's wind and enough room for 100' lintes might be good enough.

So fly where you can and if you can get to a beach you'll really appreciate the difference.

I live 5 hours from the nearest beach, so I make do with the winds I have . Get a good low wind kite, like a Niknak, Prodancer, Zephyr, and practice flying them. The better you get, the lower winds you can fly in.

If you usually have gusty wind and/or wind that changes speed more then a few kph every few seconds then you have "bad wind". Kites usually don't help with this issue. The single temp of the ocean creates nice smooth winds and cannot be beat. I've seen all too often where people will be in trashy winds and think that a high end kite will solve that issue. I've also seen where people don't realize that the wind is being blocked or deflective so it's a light wind. However, that deflection varies so it's also very choppy. A low wind kite will help... but again, it's not going to solve that issue.

For me to get to the beach these days is a 10 hour drive. However, I am between two lakes (several miles apart) and have found that the area between these lakes has much better wind. This changes within a mile. To be honest, 30 minutes is not a long ways away for great beach wind. It can be well worth the time to spend a day in very good wind rather then fighting trashy winds all day. But lacking that, do some local searching for good winds. You may find a big difference in areas as close as 1/2 mile apart.

Certainly avoid immediate upwind obstructions like buildings and trees, but also look further upwind for sources of heat. If the wind is coming over an urban area that heats up throughout the day it will always be bumpy and flaky. If you can find a spot down wind from less built up areas you may have smoother wind. Look at google maps.

It is absolutely worth driving to find good wind. I'd rather fly for a shorter amount of time in nice wind than struggle close to home.

It is absolutely worth driving to find good wind. I'd rather fly for a shorter amount of time in nice wind than struggle close to home.

Nailed it.

(Try to) Fy in crappy bumping winds and then move somewhere where there are nice smooth winds and you will really understand how nice it is. I think you will also start to see how it's probably not the kite that need to change but rather the wind you are flying in.

Keep in mind that in some areas the prevailing wind direction is only "prevailing" by percentage. Study your local wind patterns and you may find that you need more than one go-to spot depending on the weather.

For years I was fortunate to live in an area that had very consistent wind direction. probably 80% of the time winds from the NW. This would change with storm activity, the wind coming from pretty much the opposite direction most of the time when a storm was brewing. One of my two main fields was useless in storm wind due to a line of tall trees, and discovering this fact early on kept me from heading to that field only to be frustrated.

Both of my main fields were between two large regional airports and I could always tell at a glance from my car our out my office window if the wind direction was changed due to weather. The approach and takeoff directions would reverse. Getting to know your local conditions and indicators, whatever they may be, goes a long way to spending more quality time with a kite.

It is absolutely worth driving to find good wind. I'd rather fly for a shorter amount of time in nice wind than struggle close to home.

Nailed it.

(Try to) Fy in crappy bumping winds and then move somewhere where there are nice smooth winds and you will really understand how nice it is. I think you will also start to see how it's probably not the kite that need to change but rather the wind you are flying in.

one of the reasons why i passed along a good amount of my sport kites! active single line kites are much easier to handle in wonky winds......

just a note:the ratio i have always heard for the wind shadow created is 1:6... so...if there are 100' trees at the end of the field you want to fly at then you can expect to get normalish winds 600' downwind of those trees......

Concur with the observations and suggestions. I live inland over 90 minutes from the coast, but prefer to fly locally so I can get more time on the kites. I have several “go to” fields within 20 minutes of my home. Each field has a sweet spot for wind direction and a unique wind gradient. The best is a school field on the flat top of gentle hill, where the prevailing wind would flow over a pasture before reaching the school field. The wind was almost as smooth as a light “on shore” breeze.

When you fly inland, the big difference from the shore is the decrease in overall wind speed and significant reduction of wind speed as you get closer to the ground. Fly at shore events, you just have to readjust for the additional winds through the vertical gradient. Flying inland at a clean air field teaches you how to finesse your kite through the wind gradient, which is a great skill to have for competition.

As thief indicated, single line glider kites are much more fun in unique air currents, such as thermals, so smaller fields in light winds work just fine.

I live in the middle of the continent and have no option to fly on the beach. I can fly on the shore of Lake Michigan, but that's at least an hour and a half to the east side of the lake to fly.

I would say just fly in what you're dealt and hopefully you'll develop a better style for when you are able to fly on ocean breezes.

I am lucky enough to live in the middle of farm country so flying in large parks next to farm fields is the best option I can get. Soybeans fields are better than corn fields. Corn gets 10ft high.

I don''t know if anyone explicitly explained it, but land will always be harder to fly in because of the topography, structures/trees, weather systems, heating and cooling of air over land, etc. Beach flying will always be the perfect location because of smooth surface of water and relatively consistent wind.

I've looked on Google earth to find all potential fields close by. I then tried out numerous spots in different wind directions.

Now what I do when I want to fly is I check the weather for the wind direction then I pick a location based on which way the wind is blowing. Most spots close by aren't perfect but I can get there quick and home quick as well.

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